After making sure we got a seat next to the window, we ordered two double cheeseburgers, a sharer plate of onion rings and huge salty fries. The waitress came over with large cups of milkshakes, free of charge, probably because we gave her a tip of twenty dollars.

As soon as we got the food, our hunger literally gave in. I was three quarters of the way into my burger before I remembered to breathe. Chloe munched on her fries, getting her hands covered in the chips salty grease. Before we knew it, all our food was gone. Even though it was a very big dinner, my stomach felt full for the first time in months.

I asked Chloe to count how much cash we had. In answer, since she was slurping her milkshake, she gave me the huge wad of money and placed it in my hand. I quickly added up each dollar and came up with over two hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

How on earth did Maximus get all this money? And more importantly, why the hell did he have it in the first place?!

"Finally," Chloe sighed contently, placing her milkshake cup on the table and patting her stomach. "Gods, I thought I'd never eat again."

Then she leaned forward and after wiping both her hands with napkin, she brought out a pen and a piece of paper from her pocket - the receipt from Jonvals. "What do we do now?"

I looked out the restaurants window.

"We find a way to get to L.A," I answered. "If anything, we need transport again. But we can't use the Ventus - we would be travelling hundreds of miles there, and Proculus would be very interested to find two teenagers on Pegasus Ventus's. We need to stay keep our heads down until we can get to L.A., otherwise we're going to end up in Cyclone City again."

"Okay then," Chloe said. "So we have to find some sort of transport that can get us LA, without Proculus finding us. As of today, we're officially fugitives to-"

"Cyclone City," a new voice spoke behind us.

I spun my head around to see the same man who was selling his car. He looked about thirty years old like I had mentioned. He had reddish brown hair that slightly covered his eyes. He was lean and fit and he wore a business suit, but without the tie and the work trousers. He was wearing black jeans and he wore boots. His face was kind've elfish and sly looking.

I turned in my seat to look over my shoulder. No one seemed to be giving us any attention, which made me very uneasy. Whenever I'm in a public, I always think that I'm being watched, which made it more difficult for me to concentrate. This time though, no one seemed that threatening so I decided to return my attention to the stranger.

"Have you been eavesdropping on us or something?" I demanded incredulously. "Go on, spit it out."

"Yes, I was listening to you two," the man told us.

He sat down next to me, making me move further away from him. "So, how'd you escape the storm city? I could tell it wasn't easy, since your arm is bandaged."

He pointed to my wrapped up wrist, which I refused to unravel. It still freaked me out that I was branded with a mark that I would have on my skin forever. It was freakier that the man even knows that a mark was on my wrist in the first place.

"It's none of your damn business," I hissed.

"Who are you?" Chloe demanded.

"None of your damn business," the stranger mocked with that sly smile of his.

I grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his head on the table, making the empty plates rattle. While the man groaned and rubbed his forehead, Chloe shot her hand out and grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, pulling his head to look at her dead in the face. No one paid us any attention.

"Let's get something straight here, pal," Chloe growled. "We're people who you do not want to mess with. My name is Chloe Dimascio. This is my brother, Marcus Dimascio. We're the son and daughter of Poseidon, Lord of the Sea's and the Bringer of the Storms. We're warning you right now: if you don't tell us who the hell you are, you're gonna end up with an even bigger bruise on your forehead. And right now, I'm in the mood for punching someone or something in the face."

I wasn't in any way shocked about what we were doing, even though we were attacking a man without hesitation. I was starting to think that all that time in Cyclone City's prison had made us a little off, though I didn't know by how much. But I was alarmed that Chloe had told the stranger that we were demigods. Not one mortal knows or believes that our kind existed, and even if we told them they would call us crazy. It seemed more reasonable to keep our existence a secret. It seemed simpler that way.

But it did have an effect on the stranger. His smug smile vanished, replaced by a stunned and nervous expression. He had a massive bump on his forehead. He nodded his head quickly.

"You know," he said slowly, "it's not every day that you get threatened by your cousins. Especially cousins who are as cranky as you two are."

I stared at him. Cousins? "Who the hell ARE you?"

The man did his best to straighten his jacket as much as he could, since Chloe was still gripping his collar in a vice grip. "Hermes, God of travelers and thieves."

My eyes widened. Oh, crap. "Chloe let him go NOW!"

She immediately released the god's collar and leaned back in her seat, looking slightly embarrassed and scared.

The messenger of Olympus sat up. His smile returned. "Proculus must've treated you pretty rough," Hermes sympathised. "I can see it in your eyes. Plus, you look as if you've barely eaten anything for months."

I didn't need to be told that.

I knew I had lost too much weight, since even moving my well-muscled waist was effort. When I crossed my arms, I could feel every single rib against my skin. My face felt stretched and my head felt really light. Even though I just had a massive dinner, my stomach still felt as if it shrank to the size of a chestnut.

"That's," I muttered, "a mild way of putting it."

Hermes looked at Chloe and me. "We've heard what happened to your mother in Brooklyn, back up on Olympus. I'm so sorry."

I lowered my head and Chloe gazed out of the window. The last thing we both wanted was to hear anything related to our mothers death.

"Zeus assigned Apollo, Ares, Artemis and I to actually find you," Hermes continued, "when we heard that the house was burnt down. I thought you wouldn't have survived three months in Proculus's keeping. Evidently, I was wrong, even though you look like scarecrows." He then reached into his pocket and brought out an old fashioned phone. "Now that I've mention it..."

He put the phone to his ear. "Hello? Yeah, this is Hermes. Yes, dad. I've found them. Yeah, they're sitting with me right now. Yes, of course they're in one piece."

Chloe frowned at me, probably wondering who the father of Hermes. I pretended to hold a lightning bolt and quietly made the sound of crashing thunder.

Hermes was talking to Zeus, the King of Olympus and the Lord of the Sky.

Chloe, looking more star struck, turned her gaze back to the messenger god.

"Yes, dad, they're okay," Hermes spoke into the phone, "even if they got borderline malnutrition...Well, what would you expect Proculus would do? Leave them alone and not torture them? They might as well have been through hell in that god-forsaking city!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing: Hermes was standing up for us. Normally in the world of the Gods, the rulers of Olympus only stand for themselves (Well, except my dad), but never in my life did I ever see an Olympian stand up for a child of the gods.

"Huh?" he frowned, still speaking into the phone. "You want to talk to Marcus? I'm not sure that's a good idea...Well, when you put it like that...Sure, hold on..." He passed the phone to me. "He wants to talk to you."

What? Zeus wanted to speak with me? "Why?"

"I don't know Marcus," Hermes told me. "He just wants to talk to you."

With my hand shaking slightly, I lifted the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"You've done well," a deep voice said in the phone. "To escape Proculus couldn't have been easy. He evidently made a mistake in keeping you in prison. You're even more stubborn than Poseidon than I ever thought possible."

To hear my uncle speak to me was something I thought would never happen. It's not every day the king of Olympus has a conversation with you.

"We didn't escape on our own, my lord," I told him. "A member of the council called Maximus broke us out. He didn't get out of Cyclone City. Proculus and his men caught him, Titus and the others and have probably put them in prison for treason. The rest of the council won't be able to complain against Proculus, since he's been changing the rules over the centuries. There was nothing we could've done. We barely got out of there alive, sir."

"Holy Styx," Zeus cursed. "Things must be getting worse. Ever since your father vanished, Proculus has been getting bolder. I don't know what he wants with you and your sister, and if the rest of the council knows anything they refuse to tell me, and that really gets on my nerves to tell you the truth. My best bet is that they got something planned and you are needed for it. You must tread carefully from this point on."

I was thankful that he wasn't looking at me, because I was physically shaking from head to toe. I knew exactly what Proculus wanted with us, but I decided not to say anything.

"What do we do then?" I asked. "What do you suggest we do? Because right now I'm out of ideas, and I've got a feeling that we're being watched."

"I suggest you keep running from Cyclone City. Your only chance is to keep running away from its storm cloud - it's attracted to children of Poseidon like you. It won't leave you alone; it'll just keep following you everywhere you go. If Proculus gets his hands on you again, there's no telling what he'll do to you. You can't let Maximus's sacrifice go in vain." He paused for a moment until he spoke again. "Your mother told you where you needed to go."

I nodded, remembering my mother's desperate words; the urgent look in her eyes. "Los Angeles. But what's there? How can there be any answers there? The only thing that's there is-"

"Chiron had his reason's to banish you and your sister, Marcus. But you need to get there, nonetheless. I'll try and contact him just to give him a head's up. Hermes will drive you there - there's none faster than him. He can get you there in a matter of hours."

I sighed heavily. "Okay. But I'm sure Proculus is gonna be after us. I don't know if we can stop an army like this. And if I know Proculus at all well, he's gonna throw everything he's got at us."

"I'll try and slow him down as best as I can," the thunder god promised. "But right now, you and your sister have got to keep moving. And be warned: you will have company along the way. Be careful. Who knows what tricks Proculus has got up his sleeve?"

The phone hung up and the only thing I could hear was the dialing tone.

I passed the phone back to Hermes, sighing heavily.

"What did uncle say?" Chloe asked me as she was paying the waitress for the food.

I waited until no one could hear us. I leaned forward just to be sure. "He told us we've got to get to L.A fast. Proculus is after us - him and the entire Typhoon Army. Cyclone City is on our trail right now, its storm cloud coming in our direction. Hermes, do you think that you can be able to get us to L.A. fast enough?"

In answer, the messenger god brought out a set of keys and jangled them.

"I'm the god of all travelers worldwide, Marcus," he said simply.

He then said, in a serious tone, "If anyone can get you to Los Angeles, it's me. Plus, it would be kind of cool to see the city anyway." He pointed at the window. "Besides, we're going in that beast over there."

I looked out the window and stared at the Chevelle. A pure black beast on wheels with an engine that makes it sound like an animal growling. I know it sounded like that because my grandfather owns one back in New York. The thing was basically a tank.

"As long as we journey in the Chevelle," I said, "that's good enough for me."

Chloe slapped the table in a judge like way. "Well, that settle's it then." She picked up her jacket. "We're leaving."